WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. – It took a while for the Lycoming College men's basketball team to warm up in the second half of Wednesday, Feb. 5's Commonwealth Conference game against league-leading Messiah College. However, the Warriors still scored the first 12 points of the half over the first 5:27 and used that run en route to a shocking 81-73 win over the 17^th-ranked Falcons.
 
The win is Lycoming's first over a ranked team since a 79-78 overtime win over Elizabethtown, ranked 25^th in the nation, on Jan. 22, 2008 in Lamade Gym.
 
Holding a one-point heading into the second half, the Warriors (9-10 overall, 5-8 Commonwealth) were able to keep Messiah (16-3 overall, 10-3 Commonwealth) scoreless through its first nine shots of the period.
 
Lycoming also struggled early, but a free throw by sophomore Patrick Dougher (Scotch Plains, N.J./Scotch Plains-Fanwood) began to get the team going at the 17:22 mark. Soon after, starting sophomore point guard Armani Taylor (Upper Marlboro, Md./Bowie) found senior Michael Rudy (Danville, Pa./Danville Area) in the right corner for a 3-pointer.
 
"Messiah is a great defensive team," Rudy, who finished with a team-high 18 points and 11 rebounds, said. "We didn't want to fight with them in the half court, so we pushed the ball in transition and got some easy buckets. We really needed that."
 
After a missed Messiah shot, the Warriors got in transition and Taylor found Dougher for a trey. After another Messiah miss, Taylor found Rudy for one more trifecta. After a timeout, a Messiah turnover led to a jumper inside by Rudy, giving Lycoming a 49-36 lead with 14:33 left.
 
"The offense really got going and Armani Taylor did a great job in getting that started," Lycoming head coach Guy Rancourt said. "I thought the guys were patient in the offense. They didn't settle for shots and wound up getting some good opportunities. Just being hungry enough to go get it on the offensive glass really helped us out."
 
After five points by Messiah, the Warriors got going again, with senior Kevin Anthony (Columbus, Ohio/Bridgton Academy) hit a layup and then was picked up by junior Malcolm Covington (Bronx, N.Y./Christ the King) for a fastbreak dunk. 
 
The Falcons couldn't get closer than 10 points again until there were 38 seconds left when Josh Clippinger hit a free throw to make it 80-71. Still, the final eight-point margin was more than the margin of the Falcons' first two conference losses (four points to Stevenson; one point to Hood).
 
The Warriors were on fire in the second half, hitting 15-of-25 (60 percent) and 5-of-7 (71 percent) from 3-point range, while holding Messiah to just 31 percent (11-of-36).
The two teams fought through six ties and 14 lead changes in the first half, with neither team was able to manage a lead of more than four points. Lycoming was the team to gain that advantage, as junior Jourdan Wilson (Mechanicsburg, Pa./Cumberland Valley) hit a jumper with 3:21 left to take a 33-29 lead. After trading two buckets each, Messiah was able to cut the lead to one at 37-36 with a 3-pointer from Scott Bolen with 42 seconds left.
 
Rudy posted four blocks to go with the double-double, leaving him one shy of 150 blocks in his career. Anthony notched 16 points, eight rebounds and two dunks and Dougher added 13 points, six rebounds and three 3-pointers. Senior Justin Miller (Agawam, Mass./Bridgton Academy) posted eight points and eight rebounds and Wilson added eight points and three assists. In his first start, Taylor notched six assists.
 
Messiah was led by 15 points from David Fernandez, Brad Bolen and Scott Bolen. Brad Bolen notched six rebounds, Zac Hoy added five assists and 11 points and both Christyan DeVan and Brad Bolen posted four steals. DeVan also notched 10 points.
 
The Warriors get back on the court on Saturday, Feb. 8, when they head to Stevenson for a 1 p.m. Commonwealth Conference game.